The Cellar Bar

The Cellar Bar was part of the Glassford Hotel, at the corner of Wilson Street. also see Traders Bar.

The Hallmark of having arrived as a collector is when your advice is sought as an authority on your speciality

This is what happened to manager Jim Slavin, of the Cellar Bar, Glassford Street, Glasgow, where the collection of neckties had made him sufficiently qualified for the police to seek his aid in an assault case.

The victim was a young woman who was able to describe her attacker’s tie- a single motif one- accurately enough for a police artist to draw it and then have C.I.D. men check with Jim to see if he could identify it.

However, it wasn’t one which young Jim- he was 23 years of age then, had been involved with ties for only two years at the time of the inquiry- had come across in his time.

The Glassford Hotel, which housed the Cellar Bar, was opened in December, 1965, and the tie collection was started the following year by Jim and his bar colleague, Jim McIntyre, aided by the winning ways of the girls behind the bar when they noticed a tie new to them.

Actually, it’s only the back end of the tie which is snipped off so that the customer still had enough tie to wear if it’s his favourite and he is prepared to assist the collection. Some, of course, were so pleased to be asked that they gave the complete tie.

The tie gathering had increased steadily since the start and Jim’s catalogue lists 370 examples of neckwear in the Cellar Bar collection. First entry in the book’s alphabet was Ayr Technical College and the last was Yorkshire Union od Golf Clubs… so there’s was room for a Zoological Society member’s tie.

The tie rack covered a whole spectrum of clubs, schools, the services and trades. The rarest among the Forces’ representation was the Royal Flying Corps tie (sent by a customer from St. Albans, Hertfordshire); Marylebone Cricket Club was the most uncommon sports example, and the Asparagus Club tie, belonged to a gourmet group from Cambridge University was in the same category for the clubs.

The military side was well represented in the collection, with the Brigade of Guards tie holding the square alongside the Inns of Court Regiment, and the Fourteenth was not the Forgotten Army here as it was central in position.

There was also a minor ecumenical movement on display, with the Central Catholic Club of Ireland tie hanging near the Orange Lodge of Belfast.

With it’s specialised interest it’s only natural that the Cellar Bar should have a distinctive tie of it’s own and Jim- who wore the West of Scotland U. K. Bartenders’ Guild tie, he also had a dozen pink pig ties made up for his regular customers… presumably those he knows well enough to realise they won’t object to this group emblem!

In the News 1971…

The Pub is generally recognised as man’s domain, but in recent weeks there is one place in Glasgow that is more interested in women. It is the Glassford Hotel in Glassford Street. Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in their Cellar Bar they run a lighthearted contest lighthearted that is to everyone except the contestants, looking for the best Go-Go girls of the night. The contest is part of the Light Fantastic Discotheque run by disc jockey Allan Kay.

As a novelty Allan picks one girl a night as the best Go-Go dancer and the girl gets a long playing record as her prize. It might not be everyone’s scene, but at least it is different. Incidentally, there is no addmission charge to the discotheque.

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This Month In History

Ye Olde Inn had an established date of 1650. Before television and radio customers at the old Inn told stories and tales that were passed down to the next generation of locals, one such story was that Ye Olde Inn had witnessed on May, 1679, when armed horsemen rode into the town and fixed to the cross a Declaration and Testimony of the true Presbyterian Church, an act of revolt which led to the bloody battles of Drumclog and Bothwell Brig.